


Just Give It Time (We Can Meet in the Middle)

by valerievale



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-01 16:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8630824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerievale/pseuds/valerievale
Summary: What's the point in fixing something that's been broken before it started?Enoch asks himself that each time he ruins things further and each time Jake tries to confront him about it. Things won't change, but he'll let himself have those few moments when they don't think anyone notices.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is or why it exists, but the ship name is emo af so this was just a fic waiting to happen tbh. I wrote this while listening to PVRIS' album White Noise, and this fic is more specifically written about the song You and I, in case you want to listen to that (lowkey considering writing a fic for each song off that album). Also, don't mind me, I'm just going to stay in my small corner over here ignoring all the random forced heterosexuality and pretending it was a distant nightmare. Please appreciate this (or don't lmao), this is so bad but i've stopped caring and might as well post it

Enoch likes to think he doesn't care. It's much easier than actually acknowledging that he likes Jake. Not that it matters in the first place. Anything that could've happened before can't happen now. Things were good back then; they weren't perfect, but that's why it was working out. Nowadays, everything is either too perfect or a complete disaster, and it all feels so fake, so orchestrated, so undeniably wrong. Enoch doesn't know what he'd prefer. Maybe it's for the best.

He wishes he was still in denial. It didn't feel good at the time, and it made him want to tear his hair out, but it was nowhere near as painful as what he feels now. It feels half like someone's got a permanent chokehold on his heart and half like he's about to throw up his guts. If Enoch still thought he felt false hatred, then every every look Jake gave him would mean nothing. He could just ignore it, live in a temporary delusion, and move on after a few months.

But that's too much to ask for, and he knows it. But he still hopes that things will change, because they did before, and he's always been optimistic in a way that makes his own downfall ten times worse.

*

When Enoch first sees Jake, it's an old wound coming unstitched and being stabbed again. When Jake looks at him, the knife goes twists in an inch deeper with the tip resting right above his heart. Everyone thought he was Abe, but looking back on it, Enoch doesn't know how he ever mistook those eyes for someone else's. 

Everything starts to go blank after that and he can't hear anything but white noise when he looks back. Enoch doesn't think he's felt that way in a few years and he knows what it means, but he can't bring himself to pay attention to it. He's talked to Horace and it doesn't seem like catering to his feelings is going to help anyone at this time. "It's fine," he thinks to himself, trying to convert any remotely positive feeling he has into hatred and glaring in Jake's direction; at least this way he won't feel like a missile's been launched at him when Jake finally gets together with Emma.

He insists that he doesn't like him, yet he still bothers staring out the window and wonders what Jake is doing with Emma. Olive is next to him when he does this; thankfully, she doesn't say anything, only look at him with one of her eyebrows raised. Later, she doesn't stop trying to make him look good in front of Jake, going on about how interesting his peculiarity is and acting like the most entertaining thing that happens is the fights between his reanimated puppets. Enoch sees what's shes trying to do and he can't bring himself to care enough to stop her.

Enoch tries so hard, but it's impossible to deny his attraction. Seeing Jake squirm is fun, despite how sadistic it sounds. It makes him feel like he's in control, a nice change from having to sit by and watch his trainwreck of emotions (It's not like he actually wants to know what Jake thinks of his peculiarity).

He tries to hide it, but it's a pleasant surprise when he sees that Jake decided to stay for dinner. He almost smiles for a brief second before Jake doesn't even hesitate to sit next to Emma. Of course, Millard makes this a bit more difficult and a lot more awkward (after decades, he should've learned better than to eat dinner naked, even if he can get away with it since no one will ever see him), but he sits next to her nonetheless. Olive does offer up the seat next to her and Enoch can't do more than glare at both of them and pretend that he doesn't want Jake to sit next to her because he's jealous of him. Jake doesn't move from his seat next to Emma however, while Enoch gets a mini-lecture and look of disappointment from Fiona, and a knowing look from Olive that tells him she's onto him.

Again, it doesn't matter. It's barely the first night and Horace has already dreamt up at least one scenario in which Jake and Emma kiss, all of them too close in the near future for comfort. Maybe it would help if Enoch was nicer, but it's easier to deny his feelings if he's actively fighting against them.

He leaves soon after that, and Enoch can barely hold in the sigh of relief. Unfortunately, life isn't that easy. Jake comes back the next day and with him, another facade of hatred. Enoch doesn't have to fake the bitterness though. Somehow, it doesn't manage to discourage Jake from trying to be civil. 

*

He's having another sleepless night when he hears a knock at the door. He knows he's the only one awake at this point and it's probably Miss Peregrine back from some random errand, so he goes down the stairs to open it. He's waiting to get scolded for being up, but he sees that it isn't Miss Peregrine at the door. Instead, Jake's come to visit in the middle of the night.

For a split second, Enoch thinks he won't even bother, but the words fall out of him and he can't do a single thing about it (not that he would if he could). "Emma's not awake right now and I don't think she'd appreciate you coming to bother her in the middle of the night."

Jake stares at him without showing any signs of what he's thinking or feeling except a small, barely there sigh that neither of them really hear. "That's actually not why I came back." He coughs into his hand, and if it weren't dark, Enoch might've thought that he went red for a hot minute. "I just, I needed to talk to you, but now that I think about it, it's not that important and we should just forget about it." He's about to walk back to the loop's entrance, but Enoch grabs him by the sleeve before he can manage.

"No, you came all this way, halfway through the night, so let's hear it." Enoch wonders if he did a decent job at keeping the spite out of his voice. It wouldn't change anything, but it'd be nice to think about, if not anything else.

"What did I do to you?" It's such a blunt way to ask, but then again, all of their other interactions have been the same. "I'm not likable and I get that it's probably weird since this is the first time there's been a guy around your age here in years, but you immediately started treating me like crap when I got here, and I'd like to know why."

"I don't know." That's a lie, and a terrible one at that, but it seems like it's all Enoch can do around him.

"How would you not know about something that you clearly care about if you're putting in that much effort to make me feel this way?" It's unfair how Enoch treats Jake, but it's better than the alternative. "You can't just talk and try to make me out to be a villain and then look at me like that-- like I'm some hero, even though I haven't done anything."

Enoch doesn't say anything for a while and he doesn't know how long they stay like that, him feeling smaller by the second and Jake looking embarrassed at what he's said but not enough to back down. It might be seconds later, it might be several hours when he says, "You don't know what you're talking about. I think you should leave," before he slams the door in Jake's face.

*

He thinks about that night when he finds out that Jake had spent most of the next day with Emma, at her "secret" spot where she'd spend all her time with Abe until he left. It wasn't only that, but the fact that he left during their daily walk that makes it that much worse.

Enoch decides to turn it up a notch. If being rude doesn't work, then being creepy has to. He uses Victor's empty body to do this, successfully freaking Jake out. He feels bad for a minute once he sees how affected Jake is before he remembers that it's necessary.

When Jake returns during the daylight, he doesn't acknowledge their conversation from the night. Enoch knows he should be grateful, but this irritates him. Jake couldn't just put him on the spot and ignore it completely a few hours further down the line.

Jake is frustrated and Enoch isn't sure whether it's due to the previous night or not, but he still pushes. He leads him up the stairs with Olive following not that far behind, yelling at them to stop. She should know by now that Enoch's already made up his mind, yet she still argues with him and tries to stop him. He doesn't know this yet, but she saw them last night, and she knows that they could work things out if he would stop being so stubborn and trying to scare Jake away.

She can't convince him to stop, so she pushes him out of the way and leaves (he apologizes to her on the walk when she's ready to talk to him again). Fiona tries to stop him as well, but for some reason Jake wants to talk to Victor; he'll regret that in a matter of minutes.

Jake gets what he wants. He runs away as soon as Victor speaks to him after he realizes that he died in the same way that Jake's grandfather did. Enoch probably should have thought of that before he brought Jake to look at Victor, but he didn't know.

Enoch gets what he wanted. Jake refuses to look at him when he has to come back to get him for the walk, which is fine, because Enoch doesn't care.

*

He supposes he gets what he deserves when he's nearly killed by a hollow. He gets slammed into a few walls and a mirror, and he would dread the cuts and bruises he should end up with later, but he doesn't expect to make it that far. He's staring directly at the hollow's face, waiting for it to end it all and take his eyes using the weird tentacles that come out of its mouth. But then Jake shoots it, saving him. 

Enoch thinks he should be grateful, and he is, but he doesn't really have the time to thank Jake. They look at each other before they jump underwater and swim to Emma's hideout, and Jake nods at him. He doesn't know whether that means that they'll talk when they have the time and get past this or if it's meant to be a simple form of encouragement, but it works in boosting his confidence albeit temporarily regardless of what the intent of the gesture was.

Once they're on the boat, he gives Jake some time to talk with Emma, because it's necessary despite what he wants. He interrupts them very soon, right before they're going to kiss; he knows that it's about to happen, and he can't keep himself from trying to stop it. They move on from the awkwardness of it immediately, only due to the fact that they need a plan or else they'll all be on a suicide mission, but Jake gives him a look and the same nod from before. They're going to have to talk about it soon and Enoch doesn't know how long he'll be able to put off that conversation off.

It's when they're midway through the plan that he stops and thinks that conversation probably won't happen. Jake and Emma have probably already kissed, something which he won't be able to change. It's quite obvious that they like each other a lot and they'll end up together eventually. 

He's thinking about this when he attacks Barron. He's not surprised when he fails and ends up on the ground, but it makes him feel useless that he couldn't have done more. It wasn't going to be easy, so he ignores the pain and bruises he's gotten and takes advantage of the distraction to bring the elephant to life and hopefully get rid of the wights before it's too late for Olive.

He barely saves her. He's leaning over her and regretting how rude he was to her in the past week and wishing he hadn't brushed her off. He's nearly at the point where he has to hold back tears when she starts waking up and he's so relieved that he can breathe again.

Enoch thinks about all this when he's holding the crossbow. There has to be a sign as to which one of them is a fake. After all this gets resolved, Enoch thinks he might use it to shoot the real Jake as well.

He's holding it, aiming straight for the heart of either Baron or Jake, when he really takes notice of it. Either one of the Jake's starts to talk and Enoch wishes he had gotten to know him better now that he won't get the chance. 

The Jake on the right looks at him and nods, then smiling as if he knows something that none of the others in the room do and is giving Enoch time to get ready for it. Enoch assumes this is Jake, but doesn't reach a conclusion until he sees him mouth those words. "I like you," not actually said, that the only way someone would be able to tell was if they were looking straight at his mouth. Then, he turns away and looks behind Baron, right before his eyes are taken. 

He thinks that talk he's been dreading is about to happen, but Emma reminds them that the loop is nearing its end. Enoch thinks the talk won't be so bad; it will be too short and he hasn't known Jake long enough to get too attached. He thinks it over and realizes its just the bittersweetness of it all clouding his thoughts. 

Realistically, Jake was probably toying with his emotions and using them to his advantage. It makes sense once Enoch remembers how Jake acts around Emma compared to him. Despite this, he can't bring himself to hate him after everything, but he has to try.

For once, Enoch is trying to put off leaving. He doesn't want this to be the last time he sees Jake. He should've been prepared for this; he knew this would happen since the first time he had properly talked to Jake. He has to leave before he does something he'll regret for years or before he regrets extra time spent not doing anything.

Eventually, he can't torture himself anymore. There isn't much time left and now isn't the moment for a dramatic reveal of his feelings. He takes Olive's hand, ignoring the stares they get for that, and turns to walk back through the loop. He takes a step forward, but his foot is barely on the ground before he feels his arm being pulled back. He spins around and finds himself looking at Jake. 

"Can't you just give up? This might seem like a fairytale to you where you get a happy ending no matter what but it's not. Listen, you and I wouldn't work out in a single universe, so you might as well stop wasting your time." It hurts to say, but Enoch knows it's the only way he'll get over Jake, who's currently standing there looking at him in shock. Enoch almost wishes he could take it back, but it's for the best. It needed to be done; they'll both go back to their own time, and neither of them will have to be weighed down by this what if. With that, he turns around again, taking Olive's hand, and stepping into the loop a final time.

*

After all this time running from the hollows and hiding from people in general, Enoch's become great at telling when something's out of place. He's fantastic when it specifically comes down to people that are sneaking up on him or that shouldn't be there. Still, he's not sure what he expects when he gets that exact feeling on a boat where only the same people have been for a bit more than the last two years.

Enoch's not surprised anymore. He's always been persistent and refuses to give up, and of course he'd like someone that's the same. He doesn't know what to feel, if he's supposed to feel excitement or dread, when he feels that familiar hand on his shoulder and he doesn't think he should do it at all, but he doesn't hesitate to turn around and face him.

"You came back."

**Author's Note:**

> (i gotta wonder how much of enoch's characterization here was just self-insert woops)
> 
> come follow/talk to me about things and other things: linelymoonlight.tumblr.com


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